Pork Adobo / Adobong Baboy

Philippine Adobo is an indigenous Philippine cuisine. The origins of Philippine Adobo dates back centuries before the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines. Way back during China’s Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), Chinese merchants already had a harmonious trading relations with the natives of the Philippines. Records and annals of these travel and trades can be found in Zhu Fan Zhi, a book written by Chao Ju Kua, a Chinese superintendent of trade, published in 1225. The Chinese trades their silks, porcelain, and ceramics in exchange for herbs, spices, and crops. It was during those early times that the Chinese introduced "toyo" (Chinese Hokkien dialect: tāu-yu), referring to "soy sauce" in English. Soy sauce is one of the main ingredients of Philippine Adobo and is a traditional condiment in Southeast Asian cuisine that originated in China in 2nd century BCE. Philippine Adobo was created indigenously with the readily available ingredients in the island and cooking methods of the Filipino natives and Chinese traders. Philippine Adobo is a cuisine that Filipinos can proudly claim as their very own dish. It is an authentic Filipino recipe originally made by the natives in the Philippines.

Although Adobo is a Spanish word, the dish (Philippine Adobo) already existed long before the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines. When Philippines was colonized by Spain for nearly 400 years beginning in the early 15th century, the Spaniards saw that the dish (Philippine Adobo) is very similar to their own Spanish Adobo and so they named the Filipino dish marinated in garlic, vinegar, and soy sauce as Adobo. The version of Spanish Adobo consist mainly of paprika, oregano, salt, garlic, and vinegar. Spanish Adobo was widely adopted in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and other islands in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Pork adobo, also known as Adobong Baboy in tagalog, is a stewed pork meat in a mixture of garlic, vinegar, and soy sauce. It is a very a popular Filipino recipe in the Philippines and almost every household knows how to prepare it for lunch, dinner, and even breakfast. In fact, it is a signature dish of the Filipinos. It is being served on special occasions like bario fiestas, birthdays, Christmas, noche beunas, christenings, weddings, meetings, reunions, and other important gatherings.

There are different variations of Philippine pork adobo, made from one region to another. In Batangas, for example, they love to sauté the pork first before stewing. In Pampanga, they love to use salt instead of soy sauce. In Laguna, they love to use sweet onions. In visayas, they love to add coconut milk. Other regions love to add sugar. Filipino pork adobo continues to evolve even abroad and here in Los Angeles, Angelenos like to add oyter sauce. However, the most common way of cooking pork adobo is by marinating the pork with garlic, soy sauce and vinegar.

Variation: Pork adobo with potatoes and aromatic bay leaves.

Healthier Adobo! Small cuts of pork with bigger cuts of potatoes.

Variation: Pork adobo with potatoes garnished with hard boiled eggs.

Pork Adobo Ingredients

1 kilo pork belly (liempo); cut into 2-inch sizes

1 head garlic; pounded

1/2 small onion; chopped

4 dried bay leaves

1/2 tablespoon peppercorns

6 tablespoons soy sauce

6 tablespoons vinegar

1 cup rice water

1 tablespoon oyster sauce (optional add-on)

Cooking oil

Pork Adobo Cooking Instructions

Marinate pork in soy sauce, garlic, and peppercorns for 30 minutes.

Sauté onion, then drop the marinated pork and bay leaves.

Continue sauteing until liquid has evaporated and meat starts to render fat.

Pour the marinade including the bits of garlic and a cup of rice water. Continue boiling in medium fire until pork becomes tender.

Pour vinegar and simmer until little oily sauce is left.

Another easy way of doing it is to combine the pork, vinegar, garlic, water, soy sauce, bay leaves, peppercorns, and other seasonings of your choice in a saucepan.

Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium fire, and then cook until a thick oily sauce is formed.

Serve hot!

Cooking Tips

The basic ingredients of adobo is pork, soy sauce, garlic, vinegar, and water. The other ingredients are just additionals and optionals as others love to make their adobo special and like to have variations.

Boiling the pork without vinegar in the beginning of cooking procedure makes the process of pork tenderization faster. Add the vinegar when pork is already tender.

Adding 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce will make your pork adobo more delicious.

Pork loin or butt is a good substitute if you don't like pork belly for your adobo.

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Comments (108)

hit food in my country

my filipino wife like's my adobo better than her own because of your recipes that i found on this web page. i love this food! mark m.

i thought I learned to cook adobo from a Filipino friend in Seattle, way back in the day (early eighties). I can't remember if she taught it to us this way or if we just made our own variation of it, but we added all spice ( in a loose tea holder), garbanzo beans, and water chestnuts,along with most of the ingredients in your recipe. We also let it simmer for hours until the pork was super tender and then served it over rice. Have you ever of it cooked this way? Delicious!

#103 - Melanie Drescher - 10/03/2014 - 09:46

More adobo tips

* Use crushed not sliced or minced garlic.
* Add a little ginger when cooking chicken or pork-chicken adobo.
Some more tips in cooking adobo:

*Slow cooking over low fire and some patience.
* Experiment adding a just a little cumin powder or oregano for a new, exciting flavor.
* Instead of bay leaves, add few kaffir lime leaves (but don't let it overpower the aroma)

#102 - Finuckbet - 08/07/2014 - 05:23

Adobo

I also make this same dish with Chicken instead of Pork you don't get all the fatty greasiness from Chicken like you do Pork,. It is a healthier way to eat a favorite dish, i myself don't add but water, soy sauce, bay leaves, garlic, vinegar, an salt an pepper, An i make rice to go with it. You can also use a variety of meat it is good to test out other ways to make it, i myself am Filipino an was raised in the house where my father cooked all these dishes we also had Yacsoba which is a Japanese dish but they only add the spaghetti an pork in our house it was cabbage celery onion an garlic along with a dash of soy sauce with the spaghetti, it is a great dish if you want the recipe i will put it on here just email me or ask me here it is a good dish an it only takes 30 mins, but prep time is 15 so it is a quick dish to enjoy with out all the sweat of cooking lol

#101 - Ann M. Surcamp - 05/09/2014 - 14:46

i cook it now for our dinner. and wow it is super duper delicious...!!! love it...!!!

#100 - Lhyn - 01/31/2014 - 05:16

Great! I love that kind of recipes! I'm gonna trying it right now. Delicious!

#99 - Jayvee Rocutan - 11/29/2013 - 04:20

Hello Paul, thanks for posting this online. It gives me some ideas on how to cook Philippine adobo. Am expecting a Chinese visitor this week so I have to cook something for him. Maraming salamat. take care always.

Joey

#98 - Joey - 10/01/2013 - 20:46

when to add oyster sauce

i've tried cooking it a number of times! sure, you can add the oyster sauce anytime in your cooking but my experience reveals me that it's best if you add it last. i mean when you already achieved the formation of oily sauce in cooking this adobo recipe. it's more delicious and yummier to my taste!

#97 - hayle harlem - 09/24/2013 - 17:35

best ever! i love it, delicious!

#96 - bernadine - 08/31/2013 - 17:03

Oyster Sauce...

Thank you for sharing this! This would be my first time cooking adobo! May I ask when can i put the oyster sauce??? Appreciate your help!

#95 - JJ - 08/04/2013 - 07:37

Great

I think your recipe is the best and I've tried many. I like the "rice water", it adds a nice touch and adding the vinegar last. Good Stuff!!!

#94 - Al Smith - 04/30/2013 - 13:03

thanks so much for this! I love your simple instructions, I mean the easy way. :) I'm currently cooking this and I hope it will be great!

#93 - thea - 03/09/2013 - 19:00

Pork adobo

I like adobo.....but when can I perfect to cook one....kailan kaya?

#92 - Bernadette - 02/20/2013 - 12:45

looks delicious, i wanna try it at home

#91 - Weng - 01/18/2013 - 18:54

to me, the best adobo is getting the right texture of the sauce/liquid. Sometimes, it's too runny, probably as a result of not letting water evaporate out long enough. Sometimes it's too sludgy, probably not having enough water. The sauce should have a bit of natural oil on the top but thick enough so that it perfectly combines with the rice.

#90 - james - 11/05/2012 - 14:29

Great

Hmmmm! I have already tested this recipe and the result was great and when i tasted it, it was so delicious!

salamat po sa recipe niyo.. i want to learn more since my husband is western and he like and love to eat adobo.. by this website :) mapatikim ko ang best ng /filipino recipe.. wish more recipe to come heheheheh...♥

#75 - marie - 03/19/2012 - 04:20

adobo express

you can also use mushroom for pork adobo with mushrooms.

#74 - Romjon Panizal - 03/12/2012 - 05:28

pork adobo

I wonder if i can use a jar of adobo sauce i found at the store? IS it the same thing as using vinegar and soysauce or if not what is it then? I was thinking making a nice white rice and putting pineapple in the rice and pour the adobo sauce over the pork shoulder pieces on top of the rice. WOULD That be good?

#73 - joanne harris - 02/01/2012 - 00:53

cooking time urgent

how long does it simmer at the end. i need when its done!?

#72 - tiffany woods - 01/26/2012 - 10:08

Maraming salamat po sa MyFilifinoRecipes.com. Mabuhay!!

#71 - melisa - 01/24/2012 - 12:55

I'm pleased to learn that different folks cook adobo in so many facets and it's fun sharing them! I think we should try the variety of suggestions, & pick which ever soothes our palate!!! Thank you for creating this website, it is superb!!!

Whoever created this website is a real genius; if you don't know what to cook just visit this site and presto you'll get great recipes for everyday cooking menus. This is great!!!

#64 - Marie Menchavez - 12/16/2011 - 22:46

I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THIS SITE. MY SOON TO BE WIFE WILL BE COMING TO THE USA FROM THE PHILIPPINES. I HAVE ASKED HER TO PLEASE COOK FOR ME BECAUSE I AM NOW GETTING OLDER AND I WOULD RATHER PREPARE LOW SODIUM COOKED MEALS AND NON- PORK FOR HEALTHY LIVING. THANK YOU. I WILL TRY COOKING SOME OF THESE MEALS ON MY OWN. I WANT TO SURPRISE HER. AGAIN, THANKS AND GOD BLESS YOU.

im a filipina married to a spanish,i try this recipe an my husband love it,thank you i try different kind of recipe here,but this is different!! super so good an the best very very good yummy delicioso

#61 - armiza - 11/20/2011 - 23:04

adobo

super gusto ko

#60 - julie - 11/20/2011 - 06:39

yummy

I lilili like it !!! So excited we have cooking in our class so i found this site and complete ingredients ! I super like it cooking tips , ingredients , cooking instruction ........ GOD BLESS YOU !!

hey there.. i was looking for a special adobo recipe and i found this site and the ingredients looks perfect though i am wondering.. how to make rice water? im new to cooking and im trying to learn how to cook for my fiance. hehe pls helppppp!!!! i wanna cook this for my fiance.. he is fond of adobo. thank you soooo much in advance!!!

#58 - kenshasa jade juntilla - 10/21/2011 - 05:23

PERFECT ADOBO

this is great pork adobo that ive been taste in my entire life! thank you so much..yummy!

perfectly perfect!

#57 - zero-one - 10/20/2011 - 22:28

Awsome

I am American married to a Filipina; I come on this site all the time to see what I can learn to make for my wife. She is suprised what Filipino foods I have learned to cook. The way I cook my adobo is I marinade the pork in soy sauce, vinager, garlic, onions, fish sauce, and The Best Know secret that all True Filipino Cookers know the secret ingrediant that is not told to others that is put on the meat that is being used. Yes the White stuff... lol... Then I boil all the ingrediants adding more soy sauce to make the sauce a little thicker.

#56 - Robert Payne - 10/12/2011 - 20:20

adobong baboy

ilove adobong baboy pahngi naman

#55 - hazel.canini@yahoo.com - 10/11/2011 - 08:13

how about the oyster sauce, when to put it??? in marinating?

#54 - cook dreamer - 10/10/2011 - 00:41

I'm going to try cooking this one tonight. It sounds easy to do.

#53 - paul - 09/23/2011 - 19:55

Hi I really love ur adobo, if u don't mind if u have a recipe for sisig, coz I like to cook but I don't have no idea.

Thanks and regards
Mr.s Higgins

#52 - Joy Higgins` - 09/18/2011 - 00:53

we have 200++ ways

that's how much adobo there is in phils. so either or it will be different.so enjoy! it could either be one of your ways...

#51 - alan - 08/23/2011 - 22:03

whoever made this site. thanks a lot! not only i learned how to cook but also made $$$ out of these recipes. more power....

#50 - riza alindogan - 08/18/2011 - 12:59

Pork adobo

my adobo version is to boil all the ingredients including pork in a low fire until tender,strain the sauce and sautee the pork with oil with some of the garlic bits..pour the sauce back once the pork becomes a little bits dark..simmer for 2 mins....yummy pork adobo..

try this...drop the chopped onion (small or medium size) in the saucepan and on top is the sized pieces of pork. when onion becomes juicy, stir and add water to cover (u may add potatoes, little vinegar, garlic, peppercorns if u want to somehow still be called adobo but not necessary). when little sauce is left, add oyster sauce in the amount of ur pref and cook a little bit more.... no soy sauce needed.

#38 - patrick - 05/16/2011 - 08:42

another variation -- walang toyo

your recipes are as helpful as always! thank you! i'm just wondering if you can also post the other variation of adobo, the one where you wont have to add soy sauce? I remember it from years back -- I was young when I last had that for lunch, but I remember it was definitely adobo, though lighter in color and without the strong, distinct aroma of soy sauce.

From my experience cooking Adobo with the right brand of soy sauce and the right type of vinegar is the key. Silver Swan soy sauce and palm vinegar are a must when preparing adobo.

#35 - Jonjon - 04/16/2011 - 14:05

adobong baboy

Thats my favorite...ang sarap tlaga ng adobong baboy

#34 - stephanie sato - 04/02/2011 - 17:53

Delicious! The photos are mouth watering!
I'll have to try the oyster sauce ingredient.
Check out more adobo recipe here. There are lots of recipes with some traditional and even non-traditional ingredients.

Hi thanks alot, for your philippino recipe adobong baboy/pork recipe. Its a delicious which having simple ingredients help good health. And i am very happy to say to share my Indianised recipe. if anybody interested ask me.

I combine the pork, vinegar, garlic, water, soy sauce, bay leaves, peppercorns, and after the sauce has thickened, add Cinnamon for a fantastic touch

#28 - Carlos - 02/24/2011 - 14:25

My favorite filipino recipe,Adobo

Hi, Thanks for this awsome recipe and the pictures are so great. i am struggeling everytime i cook because my fiancee is australian and he love's filipino food.until i found this site and i am so happy.thank you!!!

#27 - maribel - 02/23/2011 - 17:56

@ lindsay
yep! any kind of pork will do. try cooking this adobo (choose cooking procedure written in italics)...very easy.

#26 - arriane - 02/17/2011 - 22:01

WHAT KIND OF PORK IS USED?DOES IT MATTER OR CAN i USE ANY KIND?

#25 - lindsay deguzman - 02/16/2011 - 16:11

Hi,
my husband is filipino and I am what you call western. I am very interested in the culture and cooking filipino dish's.I must ask what kind of advice could you give to someone like me who is new to cooking these kinds of dish's ? Ive purchase a few cook books but nothing seems to turn out right.And I am told that there are several names or diffrent ingredients for each recipe ,even diffrent ways to cook.I have tryed a few simple dish's but they do not taste filipino to me or my husband.What am I doing wrong I follow the recipes to a T.could it be the oil or type of meat?or perhaps the cooking technique?HELP ME!!!

#24 - lindsay deguzman - 02/16/2011 - 16:04

Letchon baka(Calf leg)

Everytime when we come home to Phil, we always order a letchon baka(calf leg, It is very tender & tasty, specially if the Calf is quite young( I don't think there is secret of cooking a letchon baka(calf leg) the only secret is slow cooking, i.e cook in low heat for 6 to 8 hours. Just season the meat to taste.
best eaten hot,, otherwise they tend to be rubbery when it get cold.

in Bulacan we cook pork adobo with chicken liver and when it is totally cook we separate the liver and mash it then return it to be mixed with the juices. they are heavenly together over white rice.

#18 - Pinky - 12/18/2010 - 19:32

All in all, your website is very well presented. Simple and easy to understand. Photos and everything. Well job done.

#17 - San Juan Islands, WA - 12/07/2010 - 09:44

adobong baboy

sarap nyan lalo nah pag high blood..heheh..

#16 - saranghae5454@yahoo.com - 12/01/2010 - 04:11

dont try to mix while cooking with vinegar to let it cook or else u will get another flavor

#15 - yoyez - 11/13/2010 - 04:12

masarap na masap ang adobong baboy

#14 - john ralph alarcon - 11/10/2010 - 19:19

i love adobo!!!!!!

cool recipe....thanks

#13 - yen - 11/03/2010 - 12:33

@ veronica quimiro

try this...cook the adobo like the one in italics. when cooked take out the meat then saute with little mince garlic and onion. place in a plate and set aside. heat the sauce until it becomes thick like a gravy, then slowly pour over the adobo meat as its sauce.

#12 - ronnie - 11/01/2010 - 19:39

dried adobo

thanks for posting this adobo recipe. this is the laguna version of adobo and the one in italics is the ilocano version. i love this recipe that's why i have already tasted lots of adobo versions from different houses and places.

another way of cooking adobo is to cook like the one in italics until all the sauce runs dry. the meat produces its own oil. saute and spice more soy sauce it you want while sauteing. u may add onion if you wish to. i like this dried adobo version specially if fat of the meat is browned.

#11 - ronnie - 11/01/2010 - 19:14

Inspector for Title & Escrow Co.

I tried alot alot of adobo pork recipes.In resaurants and from who ever person who has that recipe . I rush home and make it and it does not come out or look the way I remember it .I was raised in los Angeled CA
and my famliy would take us every friday for dinner at "Travelers Restaurant Philippino food .On the corner of Union and Temple street .I will never forget it the coloer was like a orangeish light brown with pleanty of gravy .and the taste was out of this world .I'm 47 yr now moved out of the area Travelers is closed down .what i dont know !! but wish somebody would help me find that some close recipe. I will keep my eyes open .and continue to sheck out this website.Thank You ,for your time.

Veronica Quimiro 10/13/2010 at 4:29

#10 - veronica quimiro - 10/13/2010 - 17:25

other way of cooking adobo

ive been looking for the right way to cook adobo and finally found one thru d net...
combine all the usual adobo ingredients (no onions) bring to a boil until tender. remove and drain the meat, deep fry it. set aside the sauce. then saute' the onions add the sauce let it simmer until thickens then add the chicken! this is superb try this new way!!!

#9 - maria rocell - 09/26/2010 - 07:31

i agree with edwin i think that's the easiest way to cook adobo however before cooking you have to marinate the meat with all the ingredients for maybe an hour...

you never put onions in adobo Laurel leaves are used for chicken and oregano for pork and they are optional. No sugar, no MSG, no cooking oil, pork will produce more than enough oil.

no sauteing is involved cooking adobo.
To cook adobo, put all ingredients together in a saucepan (chicken or pork, cracked peppercorns, garlic, vinegar and soy sauce) bring to a boil, simmer until cooked.

#3 - Edwin M Escobar - 04/29/2010 - 06:55

surely i will try this recipe thank you

#2 - lydia i. talavera - 04/28/2010 - 16:51

adobong Baboy/pork recipe

Here's what u been looking for.

#1 - terry - 03/27/2010 - 08:42

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